1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic file system including an operating device receiving an input for performance of an operation on an electronic file and an approval device used for approving the performance of the operation on the electronic file, to the operating device used in the electronic file system, to the approval device used in the electronic file system, and to a computer program for implementing the operating device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic file system, an operating device, an approval device, and a computer program that restrict operations, such as changing, copying, and the like performable on a file.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, due to the establishment of Japanese Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) legislation, the importance of collection and management of tracking information relating to financial information of a business entity has been increased. In such circumstances, various electronic file systems that restrict operations, such as changing, copying, and the like, performable on files have become commonplace. A system that causes a server to perform control, such as restriction of operations, is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-293426.
However, a practically used electronic file system generates a file in accordance with a format that can be executed on a dedicated application. Thus, in the case of performing an operation on data of the file, it is necessary to transfer the data to general-purpose application software, such as general-purpose spreadsheet application software, and to perform various operations on the data. In such a case, the system cannot restrict operations performable on the transferred data.
In addition, since the system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-293426 requires introduction of a server, an installation cost, a management cost, and the like are increased.
In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic file system that controls various operations performable on an electronic file including an operation file on which an operation is to be performed and a restriction file indicating a restriction condition for restricting an operation performable on the operation file and a request destination for approval of the restricted operation, that uses a file corresponding to general-purpose application software as the operation file, and that does not require transfer of data or installation of a server; an operating device used in the electronic file system; an approval device used in the electronic file system; and a computer program for implementing the operating device.